Women’s World Cup qualifying vastly uneven, says global players’ union report
The path to the Women’s World Cup has been vastly uneven for the groups headed to Australia and New Zealand subsequent month.
A report launched Tuesday by FIFPRO, the worldwide gamers’ union, outlined the disparity in requirements and circumstances for qualifying for the groups that vied for the 32 spots in the event, which begins on July 20.
The report stated 29 per cent of the gamers haven’t been paid for participating in qualifying tournaments. When gamers have been paid, usually it was based mostly on efficiency in matches. Only 40 per cent of gamers thought of themselves skilled athletes.
Additionally, 66 per cent of gamers stated they needed to take unpaid go away or trip days to play in qualifying occasions.
Nearly all of the gamers, 93 per cent of the 362 gamers surveyed, believed they weren’t paid sufficient.
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“In highlighting these conditions and the status of players across the globe, FIFPRO firmly calls on the industry to take a closer look at the qualification processes in each of the six confederations,” FIFPRO urges in the report. “This is so we all can commit to meaningful changes that look at the overall opportunities the FIFA Women’s World Cup can deliver to a greater number of players than those that just appear at the final tournament in July and August this year.”
The report additionally discovered a scarcity of necessary safeguards for athletes, with 54% reporting they’d not had a medical examination previous to qualification. Thirty-three p.c stated there was not ample restoration time between video games. A majority additionally felt that gymnasium and restoration amenities have been subpar or didn’t exist, and 32% stated that stadiums and fields have been lower than normal.
The survey included gamers from the 2022 qualifying event from the six confederations, together with the Women’s Asian Cup (AFC), the African Cup of Nations (CAF), the CONCACAF W Championship, Copa America Feminina (CONMEBOL), Women’s Nations Cup (OFC) and the Women’s European Championship (UEFA).
UEFA was the one confederation with a standalone qualification course of. The others have been additionally confederation championships. In CONCACAF and CONMEBOL, the qualification tournaments additionally served as Olympic qualifying.
The report urged the confederations to undertake a qualifying normal and construction with a standalone course of for the World Cup. That would pave the way in which for extra alternatives for ladies to play.
The report underscored the disparity inside girls’s soccer globally. The United States, presently ranked No. 1 on the planet and the two-time defending World Cup champion efficiently bargained for a contract that ensures equal remedy and pay with the boys’s nationwide staff.
In distinction, Jamaica’s nationwide staff not too long ago took public considerations that its federation was not getting ready the staff with camps and exhibition matches in preparation for the World Cup. The gamers additionally famous they’d not been paid for qualifying.
FIFA boosted the prize cash for this yr’s Women’s World Cup to $110 million, up from the $30 million prize fund the governing physique paid out on the 2019 event in France. More not too long ago, FIFA pledged that each participant who takes half within the event will earn at the least $30,000. The paycheck rises if groups do properly, with every participant for the profitable staff incomes $270,000.
“The World Cup is the pinnacle of national team football but the pathways to the tournament define the players’ conditions over a very long period. Therefore, ensuring the best possible conditions here is vital,” FIFPRO general secretary Jonas Baer-Hoffmann said in a statement. “We are prepared to work with FIFA and confederations to improve conditions for World Cup qualification and address the current inequities and fragmentation.”
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